by May Sage
“Someone passed the wards. You know the drill. Everyone out - we need to separate and find out who came as soon as possible.”
They’d done it many times, so he didn’t think there was anything to discuss, but Daunte said, “Someone should stay back. In case there is an enemy, we don’t want the house to be undefended.”
Rygan frowned. They’d discussed it before and decided that, as the house was pretty hard to get into unnoticed, sending everyone out would be more efficient.
Suddenly, Rye understood what he’d missed. Daunte wasn’t exactly against the pretty assistant, after all.
“It’s a five minute job, Daunte. We’ll be back in no time - and quicker if we all go out. Besides, it’s probably just another ally.”
After a while, Daunte nodded, and they went out.
The last twenty times the very same thing had occurred, they’d found the intruder easily, because they hadn’t wanted to sneak in. When five minutes passed without him getting any message from his Enforcer, his mate, or his Beta, Rye shifted and sent a message through the pride link.
Ace, you know what to do. The rest of us, back to the pride house now.
He was running towards their home when a strong vibe running through the pride link made him stop. This time, the disturbance through the pride link wasn’t minor.
Shit.
He was close by now, in the forest right behind the house, close enough to hear some commotion.
Shit.
Ace and Daunte were the first to join him, followed by their Enforcers.
“I can smell wolves,” Ace whispered softly.
Rye nodded stiffly.
Fuck, he couldn’t believe he’d been stupid enough to take his best men with him, leaving the pride defenseless just like it always was in Hsu’s vision.
“How did they get in without notice? As well as the wards, there’s the security codes, and everything.”
He’d like to know that too, but it wasn’t his biggest concern.
“They’re making a racket. Chances are, they haven’t found Lola yet,” Daunte guessed. “Hsu might be hiding her.”
Probably; the little girl was smart, and with Niamh’s help, she might have managed to cloak their hide out. Still, she was only buying them time. They needed to get in.
Daunte turned to Ace, speaking directly to her. “There are a dozen wolves in there. If we barge in, they’ll slaughter our kids, your assistant, and Christine.”
They stared at each other, glaring defiantly, and all of a sudden, Ace removed her jacket and threw it at his face.
“Fuck you, Daunte. Fuck you very much.”
The guy smirked as she removed layer after layer of clothing; if he didn’t know better, Rye would have thought he was gay, because he didn’t even look at her fucking perfect ass and her sweet, firm tits once, content to carry on smiling like a doofus.
Then, a familiar bone breaking sound resounded, as the female shifted.
To their credit, none of them laughed, although it might have been because they were in shock.
The intimidating as fuck, strong, dominant, and all around badass woman they all knew and feared changed into his sweet little kitty cat - the one he’d ran with, the one who let him pet her and purred to his touch. She was bigger than a domestic cat, but not by much.
They only had the time to gawk for a split second when the adorable little kitty climbed the closest tree and ran along its branches, jumping to the next, and then the next, until she’d reached the tree situated right in front of his bedroom. The jump was long - he hadn’t been sure he’d manage it himself, but she cleared it seemingly effortlessly.
Fierce and cute as fuck. That was his girl.
“I can’t believe she shifted in front of all of you so quickly.”
Daunte sounded elated, and shocked. He could understand why; she had probably come across way too many assholes who’d made fun of her over the years. That explained why she was so set against prides.
Rye turned to Ian, Coveney, Jas, Ola and Tracy.
“If any of you make her feel bad…”
“Not happening,” was Ian’s response, coming as a growl. “She’s protecting our cubs right now. But we’ll tease her, because that’s what pridemates do. But none of us are going to bully our Alpha female.”
Nods all around. Although most of them were trying pretty hard to keep their amusement under control.
The noises in the house changed; instead of tearing the place upside down, the intruders had started fighting, which was their cue to getting inside.
Rye shifted, along with the rest of his pride, and they ran towards their home.
Getting in took three minutes and by the time they’d made it, ten wolves were crawling on the floor, incapacitated, maimed, or with broken legs and arms, another one was dead, while the last was struggling under Ace’s heel. She’d shifted back; naked, and covered in blood, the woman looked like a warrior goddess from ancient times. His dick twitched, finding the whole thing sexy as fuck, which was probably a little disturbing.
He glanced around and found every member of his pack, barring Hsu, Niamh and Lola. He didn’t worry, feeling them through the pride link; they were okay.
She didn’t take the time to finish them off because she wanted to get all of them, Daunte sent through the pride link. We need to do the clean-up.
They went to the wolves, snapping necks and biting arteries out, before shifting back to their original form.
Nakedness was pretty standard for most shifters, but Rye immediately went to grab his jacket and dropped it on Ace’s shoulder, his tiger and he in agreement: they didn’t want anyone else to look at what was his.
“Efficient as usual, sister,” Daunte said.
He went right to Clarissa, and wordlessly pushed her hair out of the way, then moved her arms, and turned her around, checking everything was still in place. Once he was satisfied she was alright - if a little in shock - he turned his back on her and went to the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Rye and the others were feeling like idiots.
Sister.
There was no doubt that he’d meant that literally; Ace was his sister.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see it. You’re it. Him. The Butcher’s first child.”
“Dude, how dumb are we? They act like siblings. They even smell similar, fuck it.”
Ace shrugged while they picked their jaws up.
“The kids are hiding somewhere. Any idea where?”
Christine was shaken, but she pointed towards the game room tucked under the staircase.
Rye didn’t see anything when he got in, but he knew they were there. Seconds later, they appeared right in front of their eyes.
He smiled at Niamh, and took Lola off her hands.
“Good job, little witch. Well done protecting your sisters.”
The poor girl looked like she might faint, but she’d done as well as any adult Enforcer might have in her place. Some day - soon - he could imagine her joining the pride authority.
“Here come my best girls,” Daunte chirped when they walked in the lounge, a tray of hot chocolate and cookies in his arms.
The Beta distributed the goodies to all the kids first, then Clarissa, before offering the rest to the Enforcers.
Once the shock had passed, the fighters assembled, and Rye asked Ace, “Is everything ready?”
His mate nodded.
They knew it was coming any minute now. These wolves had just been scouts, and they’d indubitably contacted their packs.
By morning, they would have war.
Family
They took the kids with them, and waited in a clearing by the lake. Anyone passing by might have thought it was just a group of young people having a nice picnic by the water with their children. They weren’t wrong, really. Ian had made some sandwiches, Clarissa had baked some stuff and tagged along, because Daunte had - privately, when she was out of hearing range - insisted that she was too close to them to be left beh
ind. All in all, they were actually having a lot of fun.
Ace knew her brother; he liked the girl - a lot. Watching that unfold was going to be a lot of fun. Daunte wasn’t normally serious with women, so, he was going to mess up. Epically.
Now that Ace had shifted, she felt more comfortable doing so again. No one had said a bad word about her being what she was: an animal. No one seemed disgusted either. She hadn’t realized just how frightened she was of never being accepted because of her nature, until they’d made it a non-issue.
Although now, Daunte called her sis ever other second, making up for all the times when she hadn’t let him.
To get even, Ace secretly smirked, glancing at her brother before asking Clary, “How was your date yesterday, by the way?”
If she wasn’t mistaken, there was a low growl coming from her left. Hilarious.
“Ugh, the worst. The guy wouldn’t stop talking about how important his work is. He’s a damn bank clerk, for Christ’s sake!”
She was laughing when suddenly, the atmosphere around them changed. Aisling got up, alongside the rest of her pride.
Holy shitty fuckity hell.
They approached as one, appearing at the other end of the clearing all of a sudden; they obviously had a witch cloaking them. A good one.
She knew that there were hundreds of Vergas wolves, but she hadn’t expected them all to come, leaving their territory undefended. But they had, which was telling her how serious they were about their insane cause.
Ace immediately spotted the Alpha. A middle-age, handsome man with salt and pepper hair, walking like the world belonged to him. He was completely naked, and hard, too- he liked this. The idea of destroying a small pride with children excited him.
She recognized the woman standing at his left. Ace didn’t feel one way or another about it, but from the unanimous growl coming from her pridemates, she was the only one who didn’t take offense.
Kim- Jas’ twin. She’d betrayed them. That explained how the scouts had made it past their security. They hadn’t changed the security codes, and they’d even got Rain to allow her to pass through her wards like the rest of the pride, using some hair they’d found on her pillow to make sure she could come back if she so wanted. With her blessing, the wards wouldn’t have had any effect on the wolves.
“I can’t believe it.”
“I can,” Jas spit. “From what she told me over the phone when I talked to her last, she was pretty pissed when Rygan refused to fuck her. I thought she was going to get over it…but she’s just not that mature.”
Now, Ace was growling too, and also baring her teeth. The plastic Barbie had wanted her mate? That was another matter altogether.
“You realize we’re going to kill her for this, right?” Daunte asked.
Jas laughed. “Get in line.”
The humongous pack stopped fifteen feet away, at their Alpha’s wave. The man then advanced, flanked by two younger men, both of whom looked like him.
Power stayed in the family, then.
They walked right to Ace and Rye, appraising their marks.
“A mated pair.”
The Alpha wolf seemed approving. Of course he would be: being dominant and mated made them strong, and that was the thing that mattered most to him. Ace wondered what he’d say if he saw her shifting.
“I’m Arthur. These are my Beta and Head Enforcer, as well as my sons, Jason and Hunter.”
Ace wanted to roll her eyes. Hard. Really? They were exchanging civilities? She had to give him that, though: the man did hide his psychopath tendencies pretty well.
One of his sons, however? Not so much. The idiot Arthur had called Hunter winked at her. Ace had to physically restrain Rye.
Arthur had the decency to scowl at his Head Enforcer.
“Look, there’s no need to fight here. All we want…”
“We know what you want,” Rye replied as conversationally. “It’s not going to happen. Lola is one of us.”
“Lola, is it?” the Alpha laughed. “You see, I actually understand you. She just looks like a little kid now, but in ten years, when she shifts… do you know what she’ll look like, then?”
Rye shrugged.
“An animal. Like the rest of us.”
“A monster,” Arthur amended. “Twice the size of any wolf, quicker, more agile than any feline, and at war with herself. She’ll go feral, like so many of her kind have before- and she’ll kill. She’ll kill your children, your neighbor, you.”
Ace and Rye exchanged a glance. They didn’t know much about hybrids, but the rumors did say that they had a hard time adapting; harder than most shifters, which was saying a lot.
“We’ll worry about it when it comes to it.”
Arthur looked like he might pity them.
“It’ll never come to it. You don’t want to condemn your whole pride just for one kid that’s not even yours. You’re outnumbered - ridiculously so.”
Ace smirked, and tilted her head.
“Are we?”
They’d expected that the wolves would spy first; giving them enough time to report what they’d found before killing them had always been part of the plan - although they would have preferred if they hadn’t stepped a foot inside their home.
The Vergas wolves had come assuming that they’d have the upper hand. Now, she watched their expression morph from casual amusement to gravity as Rain uncloaked herself, and the rest of their allies.
Ace’s friends had all made it, with friends of their friends, too. There were two hundred loners of various species, a couple of vampires, as well as Rye’s allies - another two hundred strong.
Now they’d been revealed, Byron Wayland walked forward, his older son Colter next to him. They stood on Rye’s left side, just as her father, The Butcher, and her stepmother went to stand at her left.
“Rain, take the kids somewhere safe, would you?”
The witch snapped her fingers and smirked as their submissives, Clary, and the kids vanished.
Now Arthur’s pleasant demeanor had completely disappeared.
“I get that you’re not used to being told no,” Rye said. “But you’ll never get one of your fucking greasy fingers on Lola, or any other one of our kids. Ever. Now it’s up to you. You can turn back, and stay out of our way, or we can end this here and now.”
She was pretty certain the man would actually choose the second option, before Rye added, “You might want to know, though, we also have a hundred people ready to burn the fuck out of your territory. That’s what you’d planned to do with ours, isn’t it?”
The Alpha blanched, making him smile.
“You’re welcome to burn our empty, fully insured house. We’ll settle down elsewhere. But moving five hundred and twenty seven adults, as well as three hundred and four kids from the home they’ve inhabited for seven generations might be a little bit more of an issue, I’m sure.”
Coveney had come through with plenty of intel.
The Vergas Alpha walked forward, but his sons grabbed his arms, and leaned in to whisper, evidently attempting to reason with him.
Finally, he turned to them, rage evident in his eyes.
“This isn’t over.”
“Isn’t it?” Byron asked, his beaming voice full of humor. “Because I’m telling you right now: you attack my son again? I’ll take it as a personal offense against our crown. I’ll come down on you with everything I’ve got.”
Yeah… he might seem a little gruff and all, but Ace didn’t mind her mate’s father.
But if she loved the dad, she completely adored the grandmother.
“Excuse me?” a sweet little frail voice interjected, as the Alpha wolf began to retreat.
They all turned to the petite old lady with long silver hair, who was pointing past the Alpha, towards Kim.
“That filthy piece of shit. We want it. Consider it our due for letting you go without declaring war on your ass, will you?”
The wolf growled, but he nodded towards Hunt
er, who went to grab the traitor, and pushed her their way.
“Why, thank you so much, you pack of savages.” Then, she smiled up to Ace and said, “I have a brilliant idea. We can chain her to a tree and get everyone to piss on her before letting her twin rip her throat out.”
See? The lady was brilliant. But as entertaining as the visual might have been, Ace had a better idea in mind.
“Actually, I think we should let her go.”
Everyone turned to her, staring like she might have lost her mind.
She just smirked, recalling how hard it had been to make it out there on her own.
“We will, of course, notify the human authorities, and the shifter Council that she’s been accused of treason in her pride.”
In other words, she would been seen as a piece of trash by shifters, and as a convict by human authorities. The woman was majorly screwed for the rest of her days, just like she deserved to be.
A quick death would have been too kind.
Epilogue
Mates
Rye didn’t think anything could smooth down the issues he had with his family. They’d been too quick to dismiss him during his childhood, and too quick to turn their back on one of their own later in life.
He hadn’t realized that when Coveney was proven innocent, they’d all felt like shit. They’d spent the last six years trying to find a way to reach out to him, without success. His asking for help had come as a surprise, and they’d jumped on the chance.
“I always saw how strong you were,” Byron told his son. “Colter is steadier, more predictable, and less passionate. As such, he’ll make a better leader when I pass on the reins of our kingdom.”
Rye nodded; he’d never aspired to be the heir. It seemed like far too much responsibility anyway.
“You, however, are more like your mother. If you see an injustice, you’ll jump at the defense of anyone who needs your help without thinking – like you did for your friend Coveney. I should have made it clear that I respected you for it.”
His grandmother Maria raised her hand.
